He Loves Me, He Loves You Not
by Darling Pretty
Summary: Izzie returns to Seattle Grace, hoping to stop her impending divorce. She finds out that he hasn't just been moving on from her; he has a whole new girlfriend. Addex. Oneshot.


**Okay, so I know this isn't one of those stories that I should be writing, and I know it's ugly and rushed, but I wanted to put something up before I drop off the face of the earth. Starting tomorrow, the craziness that is my life begins, including (but not limited to): 1 graduation, 1 grad night, 1 day of work, 7 grad parties in 2 days, 1 trip to Disneyland, and 2 birthday parties. And all of this is happening in just a little over a week. So I shall not be writing any time soon.**

**Anyways, this one goes out to all of you who remember the girl band Dream. It's based on my favorite song of theirs. Moving on.**

**I own nothing.**

Addison plops down on the couch next to her (_technically _still married) boyfriend of almost five months. She's leaving tomorrow morning but they're not thinking about that right now. Now they're watching a movie.

He drapes an arm around her shoulder and she snuggles into his embrace. "When is the divorce finalized?" she asks.

"Uh, next week, I think."

She smiles and then takes a deep breath. "Alex," she says. "We need to talk."

"What?" His head snaps to look at her quickly because as far as he knows, everything is going fantastically and nothing good ever comes of "we need to talk".

"Um, so here's the thing," she says nervously, but doesn't exactly decide to finish her sentence.

"Want to spit it out, Addison?" he asks.

"I'm moving back," she blurts out. "To Seattle."

"What?"

"Yeah, I, um, well, I'm tired of living in LA and I'm tired of not seeing you and God knows that I'm up here enough anyways and…"

"You're moving up here?" he parrots her.

"Don't sound so excited," she says sarcastically.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asks.

"Because I knew you'd do this," she retorts. "Is there a particular reason that you don't like the idea of me moving back?" Her eyes narrow suspiciously.

"It's not that!" Alex insists. "But you didn't tell me. I thought you were happy in LA?"

"I was. And am. Sort of. But I'd be happier here. And don't give me any crap about it. I've already made my decision. The house in LA is listed and I've already talked to Richard. I thought you'd be happy."

Her last statement shakes him out of the stupor he's kind of been in. "No, it's not that! I am happy about it. You just didn't tell me."

She looks at him. "I didn't want to have to listen to you scream at me that I'm happy in LA."

"I just want you to do what makes you happy. I don't want you to move back here just for me. You were miserable here before."

"I was not; and besides that, if being with you makes me happy, then I think the decision fulfils both of our requirements. Can we stop talking about it? I just thought you'd want to know."

"Where are you going to live?" he asks.

"I don't know yet. I haven't gotten the chance to look yet. Probably a hotel for a while."

"Move in here," he says impulsively.

"Here?" Addison repeats dubiously. She steals a glance around Meredith Grey's living room.

"Yes, here."

"It's not your house," she points out.

"Meredith!" Alex yells up the stairs.

"Yeah?" she calls back.

"Is it okay if Addison moves in?"

"What, like for good?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever. Just don't keep me up all night with sex noises, okay?"

Alex turns to Addison triumphantly. "See?" he says,

"You sure you want to deal with me? All day, every day?"

"Yep." He sits back down next to her. While she thinks about it, he snakes an arm around her waist and ghosts his fingers across her stomach. She squirms uncomfortably.

"Stop it, Alex, you _know _I'm ticklish!" she exclaims when he doesn't stop.

"I know," he replies with a smug grin. He doesn't stop.

"Alex!" she squeals, trying to escape from his grasp and failing miserably. She's starting to lose her breath because she's laughing so hard. "What do you want?" she gasps.

"Say you'll move in," he commands.

"Okay, okay!" she yelps. "I'll move in with you!" Her legs flail wildly as she does _anything _to escape his tickling fingers.

"That's what I like to hear," he grins. And then he leans down to kiss her, since by now her head is in his lap. Against her lips, he mumbles, "I love you."

She looks at him in shock. "Do you… do you mean that?"

He wets his lips nervously. "Yeah, I, uh, um, do."

"I, uh, um, love you too," she grins. They kiss again. Addison pulls back. "You know," she comments irreverently, "it's really too bad one of the prerequisites of my moving in here is no keeping Meredith up all night with sex noises."

0ooo0

Meredith pulls herself off the couch to answer the doorbell. She just got home from work and she's tired, but etiquette does require that she open the door. Her jaw drops when she does. "Izzie!"

"Hey, Meredith!" she says, drawing her friend into a hug.

Meredith gives a little awkward laugh and hugs back, although she shifts uncomfortably. "You're back… You're back! Why?"

"Mer, this whole divorce thing… It's been… I made a mistake." They move into the living room and sit down.

"Izzie-"

"I just, I miss him, you know?"

"Izzie-"

"So I'm hoping that maybe he'll give me another chance."

"Izzie-"

Before Meredith can say anything, the door opens and Addison and Alex come rushing through the door, laughing. Addison's in the lead as she tugs him up the stairs.

Meredith turns back to Izzie, who's looking a little like she's about to throw up. Or scream. Or both. "Was that…?"

"Yeah," Meredith says warily.

"And they're…?"

"Yeah."

"For how long?"

"They've been dating for five months, I think. But she just moved in last week."

"You let her move in?" Izzie shrieks.

"Ow!" Meredith yells, covering her ears. "Keep your voice down, will you?"

"This is ridiculous," Izzie snaps and starts to climb the stairs.

"I wouldn't do that," Meredith starts to call after her but Izzie's already up the stairs. "If I were you," she finishes under her breath. And then she waits for the screech of "Are you freaking kidding me?" to roll her eyes and follow Izzie up the stairs.

When she gets to Alex's room, she finds Izzie blocking the door, Addison attempting to disappear under the covers, and Alex looking like this sort of thing happens to him every day.

"I mean, seriously?" Izzie is screaming. "Seriously? We're not even divorced yet! And you've been with her for _how _long? Are you freaking kidding me, Alex?"

"Izzie-" Meredith attempts to diffuse the situation because, truth be told, she kind of likes Addison and would prefer not to see her beheaded any time soon.

"And _you_!" Izzie turns on Addison now. "How _could _you? You knew he was married! And you still… Then again, I guess you're you, so maybe it's not so shocking."

Meredith can see that Addison is about to start crying and opens her mouth to defend her, but Alex beats her to the punch. "Hey!" he yells. "You can say whatever the hell you want about me, Izzie, but leave her out of this. She's done nothing to you."

"Other than sleeping with my husband," Izzie spits. "Whore."

"Izzie, that's enough!" Meredith orders. Somewhere along the lines she's actually developed a bossy voice that people listen to. "You're upset. We get that. But, seriously, you left. You left us all. I'm sorry, but I don't really see where you have the room to yell at them for trying to move on from damage you caused."

"You're on _their _side?" Izzie asks incredulously. "I thought we were friends!"

"I'm not on anyone's side!" Meredith exclaims. "I'm _trying _to be the voice of reason here, but I'm new at it, so cut me some slack, please! I'm not used to it! You can't yell at them for trying to move on. Alex, you should have waited until you were divorced to start sleeping with Addison. I know, I know, I don't have room to talk, so don't crucify me please, I'm just saying what's true. And Addison, you knew that he was married and probably should have thought about that. And before everybody starts screaming at me that I slept with Derek while he was still married, I _know _it and I'm saying this from the voice of reason perspective, not the Meredith Grey perspective. I know Meredith doesn't get to say anything."

"You sound really weird right now," Izzie informs her before storming out of the house.

Addison gets up, wrapping the sheet around her as she starts to gather her clothes. "I'll get a room at the Archfield tonight," she says quietly.

"Addison-" Alex starts.

"No, it's better this way," she interrupts. She kisses him quickly and gives him a half smile. "I'll be okay, I'll see you later." Then she turns to Meredith. "Thanks. For sticking up for me, I mean. It means a lot."

"Yeah, well," Meredith shrugs.

"I won't forget it." She finishes dressing and leaves the house.

Meredith looks at Alex and lies down next to him. "You want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

"Okay, we'll just not talk about it."

"Thanks."

They sit in silence. Meredith looks at him and the covers suspiciously. "You're not naked under there, are you?"

"Didn't get that far."

"Ew."

0ooo0

Addison walks into the Archfield lobby. It would be worse if she hadn't stayed here when she visited Alex before she moved back. Now the hotel actually holds good memories for her, so at least it isn't terrible. She checks into the hotel and heads for the elevator.

The doors are about to close when someone darts in. Addison looks up to find Izzie punching in her floor number. The elevator starts moving before one of them can get off.

"You've _got _to be kidding me," Izzie groans.

"You think _I _like this?" Addison asks. "Because, believe me, I'd rather be anywhere else."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Izzie grimaces, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "I don't talk to sluts."

"Okay, you know what? I don't care what you think of me. I fixed what you broke. I can see how you would hate me."

Izzie whips around to face her. "Do you really think you're anything more than an easy screw to him? Honestly? I leave and you swoop in. Face it; you're nothing more than his rebound!"

"I'm more than his rebound, Stevens," Addison smirks.

"He's my husband."

"That you left," Addison points out. "You left him! How do you think he felt? And _he _came to me. So I suggest that you just shut up, because you clearly have no idea what the hell you're talking about."

"You can't be serious," Izzie laughs. "What, you think he's in _love _with you or something?"

Addison smiles. "I don't think, Stevens, I know."

Izzie gives her a look that clearly says that she thinks Addison is crazy and that she feels sorry for her. "You know?"

"Well, since he told me last week, I'm pretty sure."

Izzie's jaw drops. But she recovers nicely. "He's still my husband."

"You're getting divorced!" Addison exclaims.

"Maybe I've changed my mind," Izzie replies.

The elevator's doors slide open to Addison's floor. She smiles. "Whatever you say, Izzie. You can do whatever you want. But he loves me, I love him, and that's not about to change. No matter what you do. But good luck."

"I don't need it," Izzie retorts haughtily as she gets off.

Addison turns around and smiles tightly. "If you say so."

0ooo0

"Hey," Alex says, handing her a cup of coffee.

Addison smiles and takes the cup. "Hey. Thanks."

"Look, about last night-"

"Oh, guess where your wife is staying," Addison butts in.

"Addison-"

"It's fine," Addison waves him off. "But she's going to try to get you back. Which I know because she practically announced it. And I _may _have had a slightly bitchy reaction."

Alex chuckles and tugs her into the stairwell. "The only woman I want is you. I'm in love with you," he grins and steals a kiss.

Addison laughs sheepishly against his lips. "That's kind of what I told her."

This time his laugh is full and unrestrained. "You _did _have a bitch fit. Damn, that's hot."

"You're a pig," Addison says fondly and kisses him again.

"Get a room," Derek laughs as he descends the stairs. He tugs Addison's hair gently.

"Ow!" Addison exclaims and whips around to yank his hair. "Touch my hair, I touch yours," she warns.

"Ouch!" Derek groans.

"Do you know how hot you are right now?" Alex laughs.

"Shut it, Karev," Derek orders.

Addison beams. "On call room. Third floor. After rounds. See you there."

"Right here, Addison!" Derek whines. He's just kidding. Ever since Addison started dating Alex this has been their relationship. They torment each other. But it's all in good fun.

"I can see that, Derek," she smirks. "I'm not blind."

"I'm going to go now," Alex says, starting to edge away.

"That's right, Karev, go start rounds," Derek teases. Addison elbows him in the stomach. "Ow! Addison!"

"Don't tease my boyfriend!"

"Don't make sex plans in front of me then!"

They glare at each other. Alex pecks Addison on the cheek and leaves.

"So, Izzie's back," Derek comments.

"I know," Addison sighs.

"You really think sex in an on call room is the answer to that? Don't you think that's a little bit of denial?"

Addison groans. "I don't know what to do! I've never been in this position before!"

"Little hint? Screwing your married boyfriend? Probably not the way to go."

She laughs. "Speaking from experience there?"

"I'm just saying…"

"Thanks, Der," she says and steps in to hug him.

"Seriously?" Izzie exclaims. She's gone before they even step away from each other.

Addison sighs in resignation. "Oh, that's getting misconstrued."

0ooo0

"Meredith? Meredith!" Addison calls as she runs to catch up with the resident. "Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, sure, what's up?"

"I need to ask you something. But you're not going to be happy about it."

"What?" Meredith asks dubiously.

"What would you do? If you were me, I mean. What did you do when I showed up and I was married to your boyfriend?"

Meredith sighs. "Can I just say that I'm not happy about this?"

"I know and I'm really, really sorry," Addison apologizes genuinely. "But it's just… I… I love him, Meredith, and I don't know how to deal with it. I see her and I just feel like a horrible person for being in love with my boyfriend! How am I supposed to be there for him when she makes me feel like I'm the worst person in the world for doing it?"

"I'll try to talk to her, okay?" Meredith offers. "But maybe you and Alex could cool it for a little while? Don't break up or anything. But just show her that you're serious. Not some fling."

"I-" Addison starts to protest but Meredith cuts her off. "_I _know you're serious. But she doesn't. She hasn't been around for the past six months. She hasn't seen what's been happening between you two. Maybe you could talk to her."

Addison sighs. "I doubt she ever wants to speak to me again."

"Let me see what I can do, okay?"

"Thanks, Meredith."

0ooo0

"Alex, can we talk?"

"What do you want, Izzie?" Alex asks, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

"How serious are you about Addison?"

"None of your business."

"It's just that I just saw her and Derek and they were…"

"Izzie, I swear to God, if you're trying to make it sound like Addison is cheating with me with Shepherd, I'm not speaking to you again."

"But what if she is?"

"She's not!" he exclaims. "That's just how they are."

"You trust her that much?"

"I do. I love her, Iz, and that's not changing. No matter what you do."

Izzie exhales noisily and storms away.

0ooo0

"Izzie, can we talk?" Meredith asks.

"What?" she snaps. "Want to yell at me some more?"

"No. I just want to talk."

"Fine. What?"

"You ran off last night. Are you okay?"

"What? Okay that my husband is sleeping with some tramp?"

"She's not some tramp," Meredith says. "She's actually really nice. Which you _used _to know before. You actually liked her, remember?"

"She's sleeping with my husband!"

"You wanted to get divorced, remember?"

"I made a mistake."

"But your mistake really, really hurt him. And Addison is helping to heal that. I mean, I know that you're not happy about it. But if you really love him, then don't you think you should just want him happy again?"

"She's just going to hurt him more!"

"Izzie, I don't know if you've noticed, but they're in love."

"Yeah. Right," Izzie scoffs.

"No, I'm serious. If you pay attention to them, you'll see that they're dead serious about each other. Maybe if you just _talk _to her…"

"Talk to her."

"That's what I said. Yes."

"Why?"

"She wants to talk to you. She wants you to be okay with this!"

"But I'm not! How can you be? This is the woman who stole your boyfriend! And now she's stealing my husband!"

"She's not stealing your husband," Meredith snaps. "They were together before you two ever got married. And when you left, they got back together."

"Seriously?"

"I shouldn't have told you that," Meredith says. "That should have come from her. But will you please just talk to her?"

"I don't know…"

"Izzie, I feel like you should know that everybody really likes them together. And if you try to break them up, the hospital isn't going to be happy."

"What are they? Your golden couple?"

"Kind of. Yeah. They're just… Everybody likes them. And everybody used to love you and I want them to again."

Izzie rolls her eyes. "Fine. I'll talk to her. But only for you and Alex. Nobody else."

"Thank you."

0ooo0

Addison looks up when there's a knock on her door. "I-Izzie," she stammers when she sees who's doing said knocking.

"Can I come in?"

"Y-yeah, sure." Addison gets up and smoothes her skirt for no apparent reason. "What can I do for you?"

"What's up with you and Alex? The full story."

"I'm sorry?" Addison says, not exactly sure what she's being Alex.

"Why are you here?" Izzie clarifies, speaking slowly as if to aid Addison's understanding. "Why are you not in LA, why are you with Alex, and how did it happen?"

"Do you actually want to know or are you just going to call me a godless whore again?"

"I never called you godless," Izzie points out.

"You may as well have."

Izzie sighs. "I won't call you a godless whore. I just want to know."

Addison drags a hand through her hair. "He showed up in LA after you left him. He didn't want to come back here and he needed a place to stay so…"

"Before that," Izzie says. "What happened before that?"

"Excuse me?"

"Before we got married. What happened between you before you went to LA?"

Addison stammers, trying to buy some time. She doesn't even know how Izzie knows about that.

"I'm just trying to understand," Izzie says.

"We slept together," Addison confides. "We had been dancing around each other since we kissed at Joe's and we finally gave in. It was stupid and impulsive and I started it, just like everything we ever did back then. He told me that I wasn't his girlfriend later that day. I went to LA, came back, told him he wanted Ava, and then moved to California. Next thing I heard, he was married to you. And then he showed up and he was divorced."

"So you just swooped right in?" Izzie accuses.

Addison gives her a glare that silences her. "No. I didn't. He stayed with me for about a month, as my _roommate_, before he told me that he had been lying."

"But he married me!"

Addison bites her lip. "You'd have to ask him about it. I don't want to say something wrong. But, Izzie, believe me, if I ever thought for a second that he was still in love with you, I would step out of the way forever. I'm sorry, that sounded bad. What I'm trying to say is that… He'll always love you. But he's in love with me now and I don't want to spend the rest of my life trying to apologize for that, because… because I'm in love with him too. I don't want you to hate me, but I don't want to give him up either."

"The problem is that I'm in love with him too."

"I know." Addison studies the floor. "But, I guess, if you're really serious and if you'll make him happy… And you _swear _to me that you'll never hurt him again…" she whispers, but doesn't finish because she's busy trying to wipe tears before they fall.

"No," Izzie sighs. "Everything I've been hearing and seeing since I got here… I didn't want to admit it, but it all points to him loving you and wanting to be with you now. _You're _what makes him happy, as much as that sucks. And I just want him happy."

"Thank you," Addison murmurs.

"I'm sorry that I called you a godless whore," Izzie apologizes.

"You never called me godless," Addison points out.

0ooo0

Addison plops down on the couch next to her no longer married boyfriend. "Hi," she smiles, leaning against him. "You're warm!"

"Yeah, and you're freaking freezing!" he exclaims. "What have you been doing?"

"Izzie and I went shopping."

"It's pouring outside! And it's weird that you hang out with my ex-wife."

"There is no specific weather for shopping. And it would only be weird if you decided to come hang out with us."

He laughs and starts to tickle her. But she's gained lightening fast reflexes and grabs his hand. "Don't even think about it," she warns.

"So where _is _Izzie? Isn't she supposed to be coming over for dinner?"

Addison grins sheepishly. "So we may have gone for drinks and there may have been a guy in the bar…"

"Guy in a bar, what?" Meredith asks as she comes into the room.

"You can't just come in halfway through a story and want to know everything, Mer," Derek teases her.

"Shut it, Derek. I want to know about this guy in a bar. Where's Izzie?"

"With the guy in the bar!" Addison exclaims.

"Yeah, Jesus, Mer, catch up," Alex laughs.

"You can all just be quiet now! So what about the guy in the bar?"

"Izzie's not coming to dinner. There was a guy in the bar and he wanted to take her for "real food" or something. I don't know. And that's the end."

"Cool story, Hansel," Alex says, tugging her hair. Automatically she reaches to yank his since Derek's usually the only one who pulls her hair but remembers that her boyfriend doesn't exactly have yankable hair. So she elbows him instead. "Why are you so violent?"

"Because it turns you on," she smirks cheekily.

"Argh! Right here!" Derek pretends to scream in agony.

"Oh, be quiet, Derek," Addison laughs.

"Yeah, seriously, Derek," Meredith agrees.

"Dude, you're screwed," Alex chuckles.

"Hey, you just wait until Izzie and Addison start ganging up on you and then you can make fun of me. Except it's going to be me laughing at you."

That shuts him up pretty quickly. Addison smiles. "Don't worry," she comforts him. "I won't use Izzie to get my way… Much."

"Yep, you're screwed," Derek laughs.

**I have a strange addiction to ending stories with a confirmation of how screwed characters are apparently…**

**I just want to say that I love each and every one of you who take the time to read (and double love those of you who take the time to review). I'm hoping I put a smile on your face, since that's what I aim to do. It means a lot to me that you would consider something I wrote worthy of your time.**

**I'm really rambly. I'm sorry; it's late, I'm emotional. 'Nuff said.**

**-Juli-**


End file.
